Or…as they say it here…Baaaaahston. I have only been here a few times and this week, with the East Regional being played at the famed (and somewhat bland) Boston Garden, I had a chance to wander around with my co-worker and get a good tour of this historical city. If you are one to wander, like myself, you can follow the Freedom Trail, which is a red line that takes you to many historical sites. I look at this as nice way to keep everyone in line so that the locals don’t have to repeatedly point tourists in the direction of Paul Revere’s house.

As you can imagine, with Boston being one of our country’s oldest cities (it was founded in 1630), there is a unique combination of old and new. The downtown area has plenty of historical sites (the first schoolhouse in the country, the first courthouse in the country, the first tea party in the country, etc.) mixed with many new places to visit, most which are brewpubs and Dunkin Donuts.

The top of The Old State House…site of the Boston Massacre. Aaaaand some big buildings.

If you like to eat, Boston is a great place to visit for the seafood. So much great crustacean & fish here with crab shacks and high end restaurants that serve some delicious chowdah!, lobster & crab. One night, Erin and I wandered into The Barking Crab. We had some delicious crabcakes and Rockefeller oysters. Delicious!

Another great thing about Boston? Beer. Now I’m not a beer expert however, when you have a burial ground in the middle of downtown that has one of the most famous malsters ever? Then you KNOW the city is big on its beer! Of course, Sam Adams did other stuff also…but this ain’t a history lesson so…have a pint and go to Wikipedia for yourself!

Here lies dear old Sam...

We toasted in his honor.

If you like to walk (and you WILL need to walk after drinking all that beer), you can hike it around the Harborwalk. There you can get some pretty views of the Financial District and go for a quick swim in the Boston Harbor. The Harbor is where they had a famous tea party in 1773. Apparently the colonist decided they wanted more beer…NOT more tea so they chucked a bunch of tea bags it into the water there. That may…or may not be what happened. You can read about it here. And as far as the “swimming” in the Harbor? Just kidding about that. They frown on midnight skinny dipping here…(or so I hear)

Another fun thing to do in Boston? See dead people. This city has 3 hugely popular cemeteries (and I’m sure there are plenty more but we WERE following the red line here people…) that are the home for a lot of possible zombies. There are haunted tours and some of the headstones look to be hundreds of years old and the trees, with their withered branches, only add to the ambiance. Now…if only we coulda found Paul Revere’s headstone. Maybe I should have asked a local…

The Green Dragon Bar. Where MANY dead guys drank back in the day…

To sum up Boston…there’s plenty to do, lots to see, lots to eat and lots to drink. If you’re ever looking to get a good look at our country’s history but also want the comforts of our modern world, Boston is definitely worth the trip! Oh yeah…and go get a Boston Creme Pie at the place where it was originally made in 1856. “The Last Hurrah” at the Omni Parker Hotel is said to be that place. I have to say…it was okay but could have been a little creamier. But that’s just MY opinion…

My head is ALMOST as big as the jumbotron in the TD (Boston) Garden!!!